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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2005)
À lust rm in M arty D ams The reflex Jp Ill'Conceived reactionary behavior gets us nowhere uch ado about nothing, or yet another sign that the right wing conservative backlash is picking up steam and headed directly toward our camp? Prevention in Vulnerable Populations.” The local presenters stepped up and brought an end to the electronic hostilities by acknowledging that there had been misunderstandings and miscommunications. They issued a statement that read: “At this time we are pleased to go ahead with the workshop. SAMHSA still has a policy of using the tenn sexual orienta tion to refer to all GLBT community members, and it is our goal to edu cate SAMHSA and to work toward changing that policy. We hope to educate SAMHSA to understand the difference between sexual orien tation and gender identity. We are saddened that there were messages of personal attack sent to SAMHSA in response to our statement of con cern. We appreciate all the positive, constructive messages that were sent on our behalf to Sen. [Gordon! Smith and to SAMHSA. We regret that they were based partially on some miscommunication but hope that some increased understanding of GLBT issues will still result.” M The most recent “controversy,” one so far-reaching as to receive coverage in The Washington Post, started with a conference being held later this month in Portland that’s sponsored by the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis tration. A panel of local leaders and experts in suicide prevention were scheduled to conduct a workshop titled “Suicide Prevention Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals.” The communication breakdown began when the panel was advised that the name of the workshop must be changed to remove specific ref erences to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks. And this is the where the proverbial shit hit the fan. Feeling rebuffed and sensing discrimination by the conference organ izers, the local workshop presenters aired their grievance to media and the community at large. Their initial statement, widely distributed via the Internet, stated, “The discriminatory and intimidating actions of SAMHSA and the Bush administration should not go unchallenged and should be of concern to all Americans.” Presenters Ron Bloodworth, Joyce Liljeholm and Reid Vanderburgh are extremely dedicated to their task and to the community they serve. It simply did not sit right with them that the workshop title was being changed, and in these sensitive post-election times, they rose to do battle. Even the usually staid and aloof Human Rights Campaign entered the fray by issuing a statement calling for an investigation of recent allega tions of censorship at a federally funded suicide prevention conference. Conference organizers explained that they simply wanted the work shops to be more inclusive and that the name suggestion was initially proposed as only one of many suggestions. It’s not difficult to see how easily misunderstandings and hurt feelings arose. It’s how these misunderstandings were addressed that has become troublesome. Portlanders opened their e-mailboxes and reacted swiftly to what appeared to be yet another attack against the gay, lesbian, bi and trans community. And the counterattacks began. The story then shifted to, unfortunately, nationwide reports that organizers of the conference received rude, scathing and possibly threat ening e-mails denouncing their actions regarding the retitling of the workshop. As reported in the Post, SAMHSA administrator Charles Curie “is getting e-mails calling him a Nazi. It is disgraceful the hate that these people have sent to him.” “These people,” folks, are us. And I’m sorry to say I don’t think we handled this very well. Lashing out in anger, especially when hidden in anonymity, is sel dom effective. People were reacting to information that was either miss ing or incorrect. Yes, it’s important to care, it’s important to take action, but it’s even more vital to be educated and to be informed—to know your facts and not be caught in a wave of ill-conceived and inappropri ate reactionary behavior. The story ended with the workshop title being changed to “Suicide was happy to receive the winter Lesbian Community Project news letter, OnTrack. LCP has maintained a low profile of late, and I’m pleased to see that the organization is alive and kicking and working on plans and activities for 2005. Board members Alyson Bolles, Debbie Caselton, Maureen Duncan, Lyra Hall, Donna Luckett and Dory Rowe are to be commended for putting time and energy into keeping this organization viable. As much of our collective time and resources seem to be focused, perhaps too nar rowly, on the struggle for marriage equality, it’s important that we pay attention to the organizations that have long sustained and constitute the very essence and infrastmcture of our community. Yes, marriage and its associated legal rights are crucial, but there’s much more than that to our everyday lives. People still come out daily and struggle with acceptance and life changes. People still have social and emotional needs, and people still need LCP and similar organiza tions. While looking to the future, let’s not lose sight of the past. I inally, lesbians were everywhere on television the past few days. Some moments painful, some puzzling and one stunningly proud. Painful and puzzling was a bizarre episode of the ABC reality show Wife Swap in which a lesbian mom traded households with a conserva tive Republican wealthy mixed-race Texas household. Damn, that woman was mean. And the point of this was—? The next night on ER, lesbian Kerry Weaver was finally reunited with her long-lost birth mother, only to be soundly rejected and east aside because of her sexuality. Good lessons, I’m sure. I’m just wonder ing for whom they’re intended. The proud and powerful moment of victory goes to Melissa Etheridge and her stunning performance of Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” at the Grammys. In the words of Just Out News Editor Sarah Dougher, herself a breast cancer survivor, “Her shiny, beautiful bald head let women with cancer everywhere know they are not alone in their struggle and that life continues powerfully after diagnosis and treatment." Amen, sister. jm F Vol. 22 No. 8 February 18, 2005 FEATURE 22 INTERRACIAL LOVE The fight for equal protection is nothing new to mixed-race families NEWS 7-15 NORTHWEST Christians continue to grapple with homosexu ality; Q-LAND celebrates one year; play about growing up deaf and queer debuts; CAP hires Saadat to head Communities of Color Initia tive; Basic Rights Oregon hosts lobby day, opens field offices and hires development director; national femme conference comes to Seattle; syphilis numbers up in Multnomah County 16-19 NATIONAL AIDS in the developing world; New York City judge orders gay marriage; Bush on gay adop tion; extreme right-wing judges renominated 20-21 WORLD Police band plays in Gay Pride march; Belarus reportedly blocks gay Web sites; gay British MP reveals HIV status ARTS AND CULTURE 32-33 FILM Campy comedy cackles at closeted screen idol; Finnish film floats the feeling that female sexu ality is mutable 35 TELEVISION Showtime rolls out another season of the only lesbian drama on the boob tube 37 MUSIC Britney vs. Kylie: Who’s the greatest of them all? 39 BOOKS Gay men write about the deaths of their mothers and erotic encounters with others 40 CULTURE The politics of queer fiber art 41 DIVERSIONS Queer night changes; University of Oregon Queer Film Festival; Tony Kushner and Christopher Durang back on campus COLUMNS 31 MS. BEHAVIOR Diamond in the muff 34 EPIQUEEREAN French revolution REFLECTIONS 42 JIM’S CLOSET Marge Simpson’s sis comes out • Portland attorney Cynthia Cumfer recently published a handy guide for living together. Living Our Lives: Living Together Agreements for Lesbian. Gay and Unmarried Couples in Oregon is a 58-page manual with sample agreements covering subjects such as owning property completely separately, owning property completely jointly and owning property separately with exceptions. • The Weyerhauser Company's in house health publication HealthWise claims that ‘gun shot wounds, stabbings, drug overdoses and AIDS patients” are taxing the resources of today's public and pnvate hospital emergency rooms nationwide. • Assaults against gay men cruising Laurelhurst Park and Lents Park rep resent an ongoing problem. and an overworked police depart- I ment does not have the resources to serve and protect every F body The advice from the police department for gay men is, slm- , ply, discretion • Bedxigs and mosquitoes don't spread HIV from one person to another, con clude scientists at the Centers for Disease Control. After eating blood that was loaded with HIV, these bugs did not become infected with HIV The scientists also injected HIV directly into the bugs, but HIV did not multiply or Itve for more than a few hours within the bugs. • Jan Corwin and Kip M. Hard of Circle Chiropractic, Valerie M. Lyon and Kathy Peters of Neighborhood Massage Clinic; naturopathic physician ; \ ■ Suzanne Scopes, and acupunctunst Brooke Winter are pleased to announce that they are joined together to create Circle Healthcare Clinic. newsmagazine the in publication for the out population Founded 1983 • Jay Brown and Renée LaChance I ’ from Portland Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Prophet Whiie not making any commitments to specific ideas such as holding sensitivity trainings for staff or adding sexual orientation to the school's nondiscrimination code, he did encourage the task force to continue its work. i • Despite what you mey personally think of the City Nightclub and its con troversial owner, lanny Swerdow, we should aS be outraged that the city is considering shotting down the teen age gay nightspot under Portland's so-called Drug House Ordinance. »A task force that aims to boost resources and support fo< gay. lesbian and bisexual teen-agers Iras earned a tentative go-ahead I • First Tuesday Coffeehouse with Carol Stemel presents ‘Know Water" with Cathryn Heron. Efesa Goldberq and Meg Rowe. Also performing are Susan Aarew. Ali Adleman and Denise Howard Just Out is published on ths first and third Friday of each month. 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Cuti ART DIRECTOR Bonnie Barrett PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Katy Maehl ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Larry Lewis ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Kari Tate, Ashley Austin, Cshea Walker CONTRIBUTORS Stephen Blair, Meryl Cohn. Chelsea Fine, Andy Mangels. Gary Morris. Rebecca Ragain, Bob Roehr, Rex Wockner DISTRIBUTION Kristine Ashton. Allison Benn, Lisa Benson. Brian Boucher
